Spill’s Economic Impact Spreads

Businesses along the Gulf coast have weathered heaving beatings from hurricanes and floods for decades, but now, the Deepwater Horizon oil slick spreading across the waters is threatening the survival of shrimpers, fishers, and hotels there. Though the national impact of the spill may be small, it could destroy the area’s seafood and tourism industries—which economists had expected to finally recover to pre-Katrina levels this year. Small business owners nervously watch the wind; their fates depend on which way the slick is blown across the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. A third of Louisiana’s oyster-fishing areas are closed off, and shrimping vessels are crammed into Bayou La Batre, Alabama, with nothing to do. Tourism is down 1 to 2 percent so far. Wholesale shrimp prices are up 12 percent, and oyster prices climbed 10 to 20 percent. The Gulf supplies nearly three-quarters of America’s domestically produced shrimp, and 59 percent of its oysters. BP is still struggling to cap the oil well.